


Swap [Worm]

by Mr_Catfish



Category: Parahumans Series - Wildbow
Genre: Alternate Universe - Character Swap, Canonical Character Death
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-20
Updated: 2019-11-20
Packaged: 2021-02-16 05:50:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21502909
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mr_Catfish/pseuds/Mr_Catfish
Summary: Character swap AU?
Relationships: Victoria Dallon | Glory Girl/Lisa Wilbourn | Tattletale
Comments: 1
Kudos: 29





	Swap [Worm]

**Author's Note:**

> [Inspired by some images by Glowspiders (Tumblr user Brocktonbay)](https://mrcatfishing.tumblr.com/post/189185092943/brocktonbay-i-would-like-to-pitch-an-autaylor)
> 
> I'm heavily altering canon while still doing my best to land somewhere familiar, while still hitting the story beats I want. Hopefully it is well enjoyed. (Note: As they don't have one for canon, I've given Carol and Sarah the maiden name of Winchester, which is therefore also Mike's last name.)

Prelude: Danny Hebert

* * *

Mike Winchester was a widower. His wife murdered in their own home by some common thug looking to get some cred. Fleur. His little flower. Annette Rose was gone forever. Bloodstains and blood-ties were all that remained.

His daughter, the image of his dead wife, only four years old. The rest of his family, his team, did what they could to support him, but he couldn’t feel safe. Not after what he saw happen to his wife. 

Witness protection gave him a new identity, a new house and a job outside of the city. He couldn’t be a Superhero anymore, and he didn’t want to anyways. He’d make his living doing honest work as an editor for the local paper. Maybe he could escape his past and live a new life. 

Danny Hebert was a widower. The story was that his wife died in childbirth, and he bounced from coast to coast trying to find a job that could support a single father working from home. While he didn’t miss using his power to fight crime, he couldn’t say he never used it. However over the years, he found himself pulling on the connection less and less. He really thought he could put it behind himself for good. Try to do what’s best for his daughter.

He failed.

He hadn’t even known he’d been failing.

Taylor had triggered. Apparently she was being bullied and it took her being put into the hospital for him to even notice. 

He was so busy pretending his past never existed that he completely ignored the problems in the moment. Problems like a group of teenage asshats who thought it’d be funny to torment the girl with a dead mom.

Bullies he never noticed escalating to the point of burying her in a garbage dump, letting her dig her way out of the fucking filth and rusted metal, only to find Annette's FUCKING FLUTE BROKEN AND COVERED IN-!

Taylor had powers. That was bad, in every way. He didn’t even know how to talk about it with her, she never knew that he’d been a superhero, that her mom didn’t die in childbirth but was murdered after years of raising her child. 

His daughter’s power was beautiful and horrible. It was beautiful because it reminded him of Fleur. It was horrible because knew he gave it to her. A Striker in preparation, but with time fought like a shaker, with her glowing light-constructs controlling the space of the battlefield.

Maybe he was just connecting the dots between two unrelated powers, swarms of glowing bugs didn’t remind anyone else of Fleur, but if any family knew about related powers, it was his.

It was his.

His fault.

He’d spent a long time after that letting himself loose in the woods behind his house, and it didn’t help soothe his self hate. His technique was sloppy, his instinct was gone. He couldn’t help himself, let alone his daughter. Deep down, he knew who had to help both of them, and he’d deal with the pain of reconnecting, if it meant getting the best for Taylor.

He didn’t even have them in his latest cell phone’s contacts, and had to phone Alan just to find out what her number was.

"Hello?" Her voice sounded so different to how he remembered.

"Hey Carol. It's Dan- It's Mike."

"What's going on? Why phone now?" Her voice was terse, unforgiving.

"Taylor has powers. And I want her to join New Wave."


End file.
